As play begins in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues, some of the biggest names in baseball are still trying to work their way back from major injuries that abruptly ended their 2012 season. You could assemble one heck of an All-Star team from the ranks of the rehabbing, starting with four future Hall of Famers who remain in recovery mode for the Yankees.

The seemingly ageless Rivera is the poster boy for this spring's celebrity rehab movement. After watching the revered reliever face live hitters for the first time since undergoing surgery on a torn ACL almost a year ago, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Friday that Rivera looked "normal." But Jason Stark of ESPN.com writes that Rivera's comeback is anything but:

There’s nothing normal about it. Nothing. What exactly is normal about a 43-year-old man, working on a blown-out knee, gearing up for another season of greatness?

Unless that man is Mariano Rivera, that is.

Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lackey, left, receives a pat on the back from teammate Jonny Gomes as he heads to the dugout after pitching the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A glance around the league this weekend reveals a handful of mending superstars easing back into game action. In Florida, Red Sox pitcher John Lackey made his first start since Tommy John surgery in a Grapefruit League game against the Rays, trying to turn the page after three injury-plagued years in Boston: (via Masslive.com)

Asked when he last pitched without hurting, Lackey thought for a moment and said, "probably not in this uniform.''

"Honestly, I'm not really thinking about the knee," Martinez said. "I'm just letting the fans know, I'm not thinking about it. I come to spring training now like I used to be: just getting ready to get to the season."

• Closer Jonathan Papelbon is sticking by his comments that he hasn't "seen any leadership" since joining the Phillies before last season: (via LehighValleyLive.com)

"It was an all-around leadership void from A to Z," Papelbon said. "From being a vocal leader to being an off-the-field leader to being an on-the-field leader to everything. You can't just point your finger at what type of leadership was missing. It was the whole part of the equation."

"I don't mean to make people think that he's not the guy," Dotel said. "He's our guy. He's our horse. He's our man. If we don't have Miggy, hello, where are we going to be?"

• Seattle starter Felix Hernandez, who recently signed a $175 million contract to remain with the Mariners, says that becoming the highest-paid pitcher in baseball won't change him: (via OregonLive.com)

"It's coming from me, it's coming from my heart," Hernandez said about embracing his status as the face of the franchise. "The city of Seattle, all the fans over there, they've been great. What else can I say? I love that place."

"It's not a thing where I'm like, 'Hey, I want to be the highest-paid player,' where that's the chief goal. It innately comes with my competitiveness. That's just me. That's not why I play the game. I'm good at the game because of that side of me, because I'm competitive at everything I do."

"He's loud in a good way," Perez said Friday. "That's something we haven't had around here for a while. There's never a rainy day with him. We could've used that in the second half last year."

• The always colorful Pedro Martinez, now a special assistant with the Red Sox, had this to say when asked about his pitch in the 2003 ALCS that precipitated a brawl in which Yankees coach Don Zimmer famously charged Martinez and was thrown to the ground: (via MassLive.com)